With fans excited as to what they could achieve this season in the AFL, Melbourne Football Club are in serious danger of falling away before the season’s even really begun. What’s happened so far? What needs to change? Why are the Demons playing so badly? Let’s discuss…
A Terrible Start
They were right in the mix with bookmakers as one of the favourites to win the Grand Final in September before a ball was kicked, but they’ve been on the drift every week so far as they’ve endured a horrendous start to the AFL season.
In fact, if you want to back them to go all the way this season, they’re currently 21.00 with most bookies in the Grand Final Winner market. They were 7.50 at the start of the campaign. Could they be worth backing at that price? If they buck their ideas up sharpish, possibly. If you want to back them but aren’t sure who to bet with, check out AussieBet.com. The site lists all of the legal and trusted betting sites in Australia.
It all began with a reality check against Port Adelaide in the first match of the season. After the finals run of last season, many fans were hoping, and somewhat expecting, the same to happen again. The Power were just too good. Tom Rockliff had 44 disposals, which was some feat. But it was the debutants that caused the Demons many headaches that day. Durrsma and Butters were in fine form.
Next up for the Demons were Geelong. They were trounced. They looked disorganised and ill-disciplined as they were warned for a starting positions infringement early on.
Could the Demons beat the winless Bombers in round three? Not a chance. They slumped to 0-3 after a humiliating 18-point defeat to Essendon.
What Needs to Change?
It’s clear that there are problems with the midfield and forward line connection in the Melbourne side. They won the inside 50 count once again against Essendon, but they couldn’t turn that advantage into a decent score.
Oscar McDonald and Sam Frost don’t look like the work well together defensively either, which is a worry going forward for the Demons.
Let’s cast our minds back to the season’s first match. Melbourne Football Club should have been analysing why they lost the game. Instead, they were too busy complaining about the umpiring and the treatment of Max Gawn. They needed to stop finding excuses and fix what didn’t work against the Power in the Geelong match. Well, that didn’t happen. They lost by 80 points. Do you think they learnt their lesson? Melbourne fans hadn’t by the feedback from former Richmond coach Terry Wallace. “…all I hear from Melbourne supporters is ‘we had 73 inside 50s to 48, we’re on the right path.’ I don’t care if you had 173 inside 50s — you lost by 80 points.” Wallace told SEN’s KB and The Doc.
Ok, so they lost by 80 points, but they went in 72 times. That alone says that they went some way to fixing the issues from round one’s defeat. However, the fact they didn’t convert chances suggests that it’s the decision making that’s the problem. Melbourne need to fix that if they’re to avoid catastrophe. It’s nowhere near that stage yet, but fans are worried.
Can Melbourne Rescue Their Season?
It remains to be seen if that’ll happen, but they’re slowly starting to turn a corner, even if the results don’t yet show it. Shallow forward entries have proved to be very costly so far this season. If they can fix that and get some wins under their belt to build confidence than maybe, just maybe, the Demons can rescue their 2019 AFL season.
